Divine Doctor: Daughter of the First Wife

Decree To Be Regent

Because the issue of regent was mentioned, the Emperor who dismissed Xuan Tianming and the others took back his words, not only was he not in a hurry to chase them away, he even thought for a short while and instructed Zhang Yuan: “Go, ask all the princes to come back. Including the Empress as well as those princes’ birth mothers, ask them to come in here, We have something to announce.”

Zhang Yuan nodded and jogged out. Yao Xian knew it was not suitable for him to stay any longer, so he got up and took his leave. The Emperor did not ask him to stay, only waving his hand and saying: “Just go! We are not in any mood to drink with you anymore.”

With Yao Xian leaving, Feng Yuheng also asked: “Father Emperor, shall daughter-in-law leave?”

But the Emperor shook his head, “You do not need to, you can just stay here. We are only going to address the issue of appointing a regent.”

The first one to enter was the Empress, because she stayed in the outer hall and had not left. After that was the few princes’ birth mothers in the imperial palace, but to be specific, it was only the three people, Imperial Concubine Gu Xian, Imperial Concubine De and Imperial Concubine Li. The princes have already left the palace and Zhang Yuan asked for people to invite them separately. After less than an hour, everyone finally came, but it was just the First Prince, Second Prince, Fifth Prince, Sixth Prince and Seventh Prince.

Originally, there were nine princes in Da Shun, but now, it was impossible to gather all of them.

The Emperor looked at this group of sons and asked: “Where’s old Fourth?”

The First Prince replied: “Replying Father Emperor, Fourth Brother is not in the capital, he went to Ji An Prefecture.”

“Oh!” The Emperor nodded, mumbling: “Ji An Prefecture huh! That place is a fief We bestowed to Ah Heng, I heard that it is being managed extremely well, We do want to go over and take a look.” There was a look of yearning on his face, yet the people did not really understand what he meant. The old Emperor had been muddle-headed for too long, to the point that until now, the princes could not really confirm if he had really cleared his mind.

Therefore, in order to probe further, the First Prince represented all his younger brothers and brought up one matter: “Father Emperor, Eighth Brother and Imperial Concubine Yuan Gui have not arrived yet, under the decision of Empress Mother, they were sent to the death row prison.”

The Emperor, lying on the bed, did not say anything for a long time, but once this mother and son pair was mentioned, the anger shown on his face could not be hidden, to the point that even his body was trembling in anger. Feng Yuheng reminded him from the side: “Father Emperor, having just recovered from a serious condition, it is not good to get angry.”

Even with this, the Emperor still took a very long time to calm down, then he told everyone in this house: “Let them stay in that prison. We will deal with them again when We think of the method to have them die. Imperial Concubine Gui’s Liu family are demoted to commoners and old Eighth is removed from the imperial family. From now on, they will have no connections to the imperial family.

This order caused everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. They finally knew that the Emperor was completely awake and had recovered to his past self. They no longer had to worry about the fate of Da Shun, no longer had to feel anxious all day, worrying about the crown prince seat suddenly falling into Old Eighth’s hands one day, or even suddenly becoming Emperor one day. Those days were too gut wrenching, they did not think that Old Eighth would be able to rule Da Shun’s lands properly. In fact, to Da Shun, Old Eighth was a disaster.

Currently, the court situation had returned to normal, and although the Emperor’s body was not healthy, they all knew that with Feng Yuheng and Yao Xian around, that injury would not be a serious issue. It was just that they did not understand, asking all of them to come back, what was the matter?

Finally, the Emperor voiced his thoughts, telling all the princes, the Empress and the concubines: “Our body is not healthy and will not be able to manage the court for the time being. There is a need to choose someone out of all the princes to be regent and wield the most powerful authority in court. During the time We cannot manage these political matters, all the matters in the court will be handled fully by the regent prince, there is no need to report to Us.”

When this was said, everyone looked towards Xuan Tianming. Everyone knew, being the regent was simply being the replacement Emperor. In the past, this matter could only be done by the crown prince, but Da Shun did not have a crown prince now. Then, with the task of regent this time, whoever received this task would have a huge chance of being crown prince. All of them thought that for this matter, it would definitely fall to Old Ninth Xuan Tianming. After all, before the incident with Old Eighth, all the actions by the Emperor sent one message to everyone, which was: The successor in his heart, was Xuan Tianming.

To this, no one had any doubts, Xuan Tianming’s military achievements were well known and he held two thirds of Da Shun’s military. He had integrity and was loyal, and even though he was a little evil and had a strange temper, he was an honourable person on the inside. In addition, he also married Feng Yuheng as his wife. That Princess Yu was not just a divine doctor, she was also the inventor of Da Shun’s steel weapons and managed Ji An Prefecture until it became famous, to the point that every official in the nation who was loyal to the court wanted to go to Ji An Prefecture to learn about its management methods, hoping to bring prosperity to the various prefectures.

With the assistance of such a Princess, Xuan Tianming sitting on the throne was natural and everyone agreed with it. Therefore, when the Emperor said that there was a need to choose a regent, everyone confirmed without any exceptions that the person would be Xuan Tianming. The Second Prince even laughed and said: “With Ninth Brother as regent, the nation will be stronger.”

But unexpectedly, in the next moment, what the Emperor said shocked them greatly, he said: “The prince We have chosen as regent, is Old Sixth, Xuan Tianfeng.”

Everyone was stunned, including the Empress. Everyone looked at the Emperor in surprise, almost suspecting if Imperial Concubine Li and the Sixth Prince inflicted a Gu on him. However, only Xuan Tianming and Feng Yuheng understood, this decision was made after the old Emperor thought very deeply about it, so he spoke and first expressed his stance, he said: “Sixth Brother, we will leave Da Shun in your hands.”

Once Xuan Tianming said such words, everyone understood that the old Emperor had not been inflicted with a Gu again, because when Xuan Tianming said these words, his tone was calm, his expression was also normal, so he clearly agreed with it. Thinking about it again, Old Sixth Xuan Tianfeng might not have that much military achievements, but he was the most learned and refined one amongst all the princes. He did not have the deity aura of Old Seventh, but his wind of refinement would be enough to hold down the whole court. In addition, he was well educated, to the point that even Yu Lu Academy in Xiao Prefecture had to admit defeat to him. The imperial tutor Ye Rong praised him before, he was able to barely win the Sixth Prince in knowledge because he had an advantage of age. If a few more months passed and the Sixth Prince matured further, he might not have been his match.

The Sixth Prince’s rich wealth of knowledge caused all the scholars in the nation to respect him as a god. In fact, the people do sell items made in his image, and all the scholars coming into the capital to take the exam would buy a wooden carving or a painting, praying to it all day, hoping that the Sixth Prince would be able to bless them with a high score during their subject exams.

Thinking like this, it seemed rather good to hand over the position of regent to Old Sixth, at least the civil officials would support it greatly, and after Da Shun removed the dangers in the northern and southern borders, the national situation was relatively stable with very little military problems occurring. This was the time they needed to strengthen internal politics the most. The Emperor making such a decision at this time was correct as well.

Once they thought this through, the First Prince followed Xuan Tianming in expressing his attitude: “This Son understands Father Emperor’s decision and will definitely assist Sixth Brother in managing Da Shun, allowing Da Shun to display its might in my generation.”

The oldest and youngest princes have expressed their attitude, and the others followed in receiving this decree. Xuan Tianhua did not have any opinion, the Fifth Prince never harboured any hopes regarding this throne and to him, it was the same regardless of who sat on it.

Xuan Tianfeng received the task of regent and everything looked logical. It was just that he was just a little resistant, frowning deeply and not speaking. He looked at the Emperor again, hoping that his own Father Emperor could take back the order. No matter what, he was not willing to obtain this position.

Feng Yuheng saw what he was thinking and said: “Da Shun’s court had been shaken up greatly for many months, and only someone like Sixth Brother will to be able to hold the fort.”

One sentence from her seemed to have strongly plucked one string in Xuan Tianfeng’s mind, to the point that Xuan Tianfeng suddenly wanted to ask, was it both of you to recommended me to Father Emperor? But what could be done even if he asked? If it was really Feng Yuheng’s recommendation, he had to gather up the courage even if he did not have it, because he did not have the power to reject. And if not, that meant the Emperor had his own considerations, and as a prince, he had the responsibility to carry this nation.

Sighing softly in his heart, Xuan Tianfeng knew, as long as he touched this point, from today onwards, he could forget about that school in Ji An Prefecture, and no longer think about associating with students for the rest of his days like a teacher, gardening when he was free and be buried in pens and books when he was busy. He would be facing a nation in the future and the path to be walked in the future was a road linked to Da Shun. And it seemed like once he stepped on this road, there would never be an end.

“This Son…… accepts the decree.” Finally, Xuan Tianfeng knelt in front of the Emperor, accepting this decree.

“My Feng-er is Prince Regent?” Suddenly, in the group of concubines behind, Imperial Concubine Li’s voice was suddenly heard. Everyone turned around to look and saw Imperial Concubine Li with excitement on her face, yet her expression also contained some fear. She kowtowed to the Emperor, speaking while kowtowing: “His Majesty is wise! His Majesty is wise!” After that this, she even mumbled in a self-absorbed manner: “It seems like it was still effective, what I asked for really came true, it seems like it was still effective!”

The Empress frowned lightly, asking: “The effective which Imperial Concubine Li talked about, what was effective? For the sake of what you wished for, what did you do?”

Once this was said, the Sixth Prince Xuan Tianfeng immediately became wary, without waiting for Imperial Concubine Li to answer, he spoke quickly, but asked the Emperor instead: “Father Emperor decreed for This Son to be regent, does it start from this moment?”

The Emperor nodded, “That is correct.”

“Good.” Xuan Tianfeng stood up, turning to look at Imperial Concubine Li: “Then on the first day as regent, This Prince’s first regent decree, would be Imperial Concubine Li of Chang Ning Palace, with immediate effect, your concubine position will be removed, you will be demoted to noble lady, moving out of Chang Ning Palace and returning to Jing En Palace to stay.”

A regent decree surprised everyone present once again. Imperial Concubine Li was his birth mother! But unexpectedly, this Old Sixth was promoted, yet he took the first chance to remove his own birth mother’s concubine position, was this considered…… punishing his own family for the sake of justice?

Imperial Concubine Li was also astonished. She seemed to have thought that her ears have malfunctioned and could not help but ask loudly: “What did you say?”

Xuan Tianfeng looked at her with a mournful expression, he told Imperial Concubine Li: “Go back to Jing En Palace! Return to being a noble lady! Only with this can I, as your son, guarantee a peaceful life for Imperial Concubine Mother……”